Day 23
Today's Miles: 12.9
We woke up this morning after a night of off and on sleep (mostly due to my continuous chasing of a mouse from my side of the tent) and set off to begin the long ascent into the Big Bear area. We hiked a few miles and I wasn't feeling quite right from the day before, moderate to severe heat exhaustion we think, and it wouldn't get better. But we pressed on knowing the cool, shady forest was waiting 16 miles up Mission Creek and 5000 feet above where we stood. I even woke up that morning and proclaimed "I'm sleeping under a pine tree tonight!"
Twist enjoying the site of water in Mission Creek.
Normally, we would post as many great pictures of the landscape as we could, but the terrain was mainly desert burn area so we didn't get many good shots.
A burned tree near Mission Creek.
We did however get to visit with a very curious lizard atop a trail marker for a bit.
I even had a chat with him in my heat exhausted stupor.
We were able to make it to Creekside Camp where there was water and a pine tree to sleep under! It happened to be the first one we hit on the trail in a couple days, but hey... it counted.
We were joined in camp by Oddball and Copernicus and another hiker named Scott who was headed South. Twist cooked dinner while I rested and tried to hydrate. Hopefully camping a couple hours early and getting a little extra rest will speed my recovery for tomorrow and we can make a good run at Big Bear. But we will see, for now, it's time for three cheese mashed potatoes!
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